There was a great want of food in the camp. According to
Father Hennepin's estimate, they were about two hundred miles above the
mouth of the Wisconsin River. He told the Indians that when La Salle
left Crevecoeur for Fort Frontenac to obtain supplies, he promised to
send to the mouth of the Wisconsin River, a reinforcement of men, with
powder and guns, and very many other articles for traffic with the
Indians.

They therefore consented that he should descend the river to this
point, to obtain the supplies. These strange men were too polite to
intimate that they distrusted his word and considered this merely a
plan devised for his escape, as it probably was. They however,
furnished him with a canoe only sufficiently large to bear him and
Anthony Auguelle, with their needful luggage. By this contrivance,
Michael Ako was left behind as a hostage for their return.

The two Frenchmen set out, in a birch bark canoe, for this river
voyage, going and returning, of four hundred miles. The only articles
they could obtain to take with them, to meet the casualties of the way,
were a gun, fifteen charges of powder, a knife, an earthen pot, and two
robes of beaver skins, as blankets for the night's encampments. They
safely reached the falls. Taking the canoe and freight upon their
shoulders, they carried them along the well-trodden trail which
constituted the portage. Here they found five or six of their Indian
hunters. One of them had climbed a gnarled oak tree opposite the
foaming cataract, and was offering the following prayer, which Father
Hennepin took down on the spot. Peculiar moans and wails, as of
penitence, were blended with the prayer.

"O Thou who art a Great Spirit, grant that our nation may pass these
Falls quietly without harm. Help us to kill buffaloes in abundance. May
we take prisoners who shall serve us as slaves. Some of them we will
put to death in thine honor. Aid us to avenge our kindred whom they
have killed."

At the same time this devout savage hung upon the tree, as an offering
to the spirit of the falls, a rich robe of fur, gorgeously fringed and
embroidered with porcupines' quills, variously colored. A few miles
below the falls, they met another party of four or five hunters. They
were encamped upon a small island, and were feasting upon an abundance
of buffalo meat. The Frenchmen paddled ashore and joined eagerly in the
repast. Scarcely two hours had elapsed ere four or five more canoes
were seen d